5:1 I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.
5:2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.
5:3 “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.
5:4 What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?
5:5 Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled.
5:6 I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.”
5:7 The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.
5:8 Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land.
5:9 The LORD Almighty has declared in my hearing: “Surely the great houses will become desolate, the fine mansions left without occupants.
5:10 A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a bath of wine, a homer of seed only an ephah of grain.”
5:11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks, who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine.
5:12 They have harps and lyres at their banquets, tambourines and flutes and wine, but they have no regard for the deeds of the LORD, no respect for the work of his hands.
5:13 Therefore my people will go into exile for lack of understanding; their men of rank will die of hunger and their masses will be parched with thirst.
5:14 Therefore the grave enlarges its appetite and opens its mouth without limit; into it will descend their nobles and masses with all their brawlers and revelers.
5:15 So man will be brought low and mankind humbled, the eyes of the arrogant humbled.
5:16 But the LORD Almighty will be exalted by his justice, and the holy God will show himself holy by his righteousness.
5:17 Then sheep will graze as in their own pasture; lambs will feed among the ruins of the rich.
5:18 Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit, and wickedness as with cart ropes,
5:19 to those who say, “Let God hurry, let him hasten his work so we may see it. Let it approach, let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come, so we may know it.”
5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
5:21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.
5:22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks,
5:23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent.
5:24 Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.
5:25 Therefore the LORD’S anger burns against his people; his hand is raised and he strikes them down. The mountains shake, and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.
5:26 He lifts up a banner for the distant nations, he whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Here they come, swiftly and speedily!
5:27 Not one of them grows tired or stumbles, not one slumbers or sleeps; not a belt is loosened at the waist, not a sandal thong is broken.
5:28 Their arrows are sharp, all their bows are strung; their horses’ hoofs seem like flint, their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.
5:29 Their roar is like that of the lion, they roar like young lions; they growl as they seize their prey and carry it off with no one to rescue.
5:30 In that day they will roar over it like the roaring of the sea. And if one looks at the land, he will see darkness and distress; even the light will be darkened by the clouds.
5:1 Let me sing of my Beloved, / A song of my Beloved concerning His vineyard. / My Beloved had a vineyard / On a fertile hill.
5:2 And He dug it up and cleared away its stones, / And He planted it with the choicest vine. / Then He built a tower in the middle of it, / And hewed out a wine vat in it. / And He looked for it to produce grapes, / But it produced only wild grapes.
5:3 So then, you inhabitants of Jerusalem / And you men of Judah, / Judge between Me / And My vineyard.
5:4 What more could I have done for My vineyard / That I have not already done for it? / Why then, when I looked for it to produce grapes, / Did it produce only wild grapes?
5:5 And now I will make known to you / What I will now do to My vineyard: / I will remove its hedge, and it will be consumed; / I will break down its wall, and it will become a trampled place.
5:6 And I will make it a waste; / It will not be pruned, nor will it be hoed; / But thorns and thistles will come on it. / And I will command the clouds / Not to rain upon it.
5:7 For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel, / And the men of Judah, the plant of His good pleasure; / And He expected justice, but instead, bloodshed! / He expected righteousness, but instead, an outcry of distress!
5:8 Woe to those who join house to house, / Who lay field to field, / Till there is no place left, / And you dwell alone in the midst of the land!
5:9 In my ears Jehovah of hosts has sworn: / Many houses shall indeed become desolate; / Great ones and fine ones shall be without inhabitants.
5:10 For ten acres of vineyard will produce a mere bath of wine, / And a homer of seed will produce an ephah of grain.
5:11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning / That they may run after liquor, / To those who linger into the evening / That wine may inflame them!
5:12 Lyre and harp, tambourine and flute, / And wine are the essence of their banquets; / And they do not consider what has been done by Jehovah, / Nor do they regard the work of His hands.
5:13 Hence, my people go into exile / For lack of knowledge; / Their nobility become famished men, / And their multitudes, parched with thirst.
5:14 Hence, Sheol enlarges its appetite / And opens its mouth wide, without limit, / And Jerusalem’s splendor descends, and her din / And her uproar and the jubilant within her.
5:15 Thus the ordinary man is humbled, and the man of distinction is abased; / And the eyes of the haughty are abased;
5:16 But Jehovah of hosts is exalted in judgment, / And the holy God shows Himself holy in righteousness.
5:17 Then lambs will graze there as in their pasture, / And strangers will eat the wastelands of fat men.
5:18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with ropes of vanity, / And sin as with cart ropes;
5:19 Who say, He should hurry up; / He should hasten His work, / So that we may see it; / And the counsel of the Holy One of Israel / Should draw near and happen, / So that we may know it!
5:20 Woe to those who call evil good, / And good evil; / Who put darkness for light, / And light for darkness; / Who put bitter for sweet, / And sweet for bitter!
5:21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, / And prudent in their own sight!
5:22 Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine, / And men of valor in mixing liquor;
5:23 Who acquit the criminal as a result of a bribe, / But refuse righteousness to the righteous!
5:24 Therefore as a tongue of fire consumes the stubble, / And the chaff sinks in flames, / Their root will be like decay, / And their bud will disappear like dust; / For they have rejected the instruction of Jehovah of hosts / And despised the speaking of the Holy One of Israel.
5:25 For this reason the anger of Jehovah burns against His people, / And He stretches out His hand over them and strikes them. / And the mountains quake, and their corpses are / Like garbage in the middle of the street. / In spite of all this His anger is not turned away; / Rather, His hand is still stretched out.
5:26 He also lifts up a standard to a distant nation, / And whistles to it from the ends of the earth; / And indeed it comes with swift speed.
5:27 None of them is weary, and none stumbles among them; / No one slumbers or sleeps; / And their belts are not loosened at their waists, / Nor are their sandal thongs broken.
5:28 The arrows of these are sharpened, / And all their bows are drawn; / The hooves of their horses are considered to be like flint, / And their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.
5:29 Their roar is like a lion’s, / And they roar like young lions; / When they growl and seize prey, / They carry it away safe, and there is none to rescue it.
5:30 And they will growl over it in that day, / Like the roaring of the sea. / When one will look upon the land, indeed, there will be darkness and distress, / And the light will be darkened with its clouds.